The present teachings relate to a hand tool for assembling and disassembling a work piece. More specifically, the present teachings relate to a hand tool configured for assembling and disassembling a work piece comprising plurality of linkable units. The hand tool further comprises a first work station where at least one assembling operation can be performed and a second work station where at least one disassembling operation can be performed.
One of the most fundamental and largely used mechanical forms of engagement is a linkage. Positioning of the linkages and number of linkages in an equipment can govern movement and force transmission within and/or by the equipment. Depending on a desired operation, a linkage or a plurality of linkages can provide a calculated operational freedom to the equipment or part of the equipment. The operational freedom can be in the form of a structural flexibility and/or at least one desired motion such as, but not limited to, sliding motion, pivotal motion, rotational motion, linear motion or linear motion along a pre-determined path and/or a combination thereof. In some equipment/s, the linkages can simply support two or more parts without directly participating in the operation. Typically, a linkage formation involves at least two distinct linkable units with node/s, where the linkage is achieved, and at least one coupling element that complements the nodes to complete the linkage. In some equipment, the at least two distinct linkable units can couple features integral to them and eliminate the need of an external coupling element.
A number of nodes on a linkable unit can be utilized to categorize the linkage, e.g. a binary linkage comprises two nodes, a tertiary linkage comprises three nodes, a quaternary linkage comprises four nodes and so on. The present disclosure relates to binary linkages and their formation. Binary linkages are most common in equipments that involve a series of linkages that are recurring and can optionally be of an identical or similar nature. In most cases, equipments with series of recurring linkages involve the linkages to define and/or extend along a length of the equipment. Each participating unit in the linkages can involve at least one end that forms a linkage and a second end that can be constrained in a pre-determined manner or can participate in forming an adjacent linkage. Such equipments serve well in transmission of mechanical power from one point to another point. On example of this type of transmission can be a drive chain in a bicycle or a like device that serves to transmit mechanical power from the pedals to a drive wheel that is essentially engaged with the wheels of the bicycle by way of a chain.
Chains are often used for mechanical power transmissions in a variety of devices that can range from toys, electro-mechanical robots, motorized or non-motorized vehicles, assembly lines of an industrial and/or manufacturing environment, travelators, escalators, or similar settings that require mechanical energy to be transferred from one point to another. Settings as discussed above or similar to these require robust chain drives that are further capable of advancing the necessary mechanical energy from its source to at least one destination. The employed chain/s are further required to sustain complete or partial load of the driving unit/s and the driven unit/s. Another significant feature is the ability to easily replace worn out links or parts of the chain and/or resize the chain as per the motive/s of the setting. These features can be highly dependent on the nature of the linkable units that form the chain. Some examples of chain links are, but not limited to, torus shaped links that usually appear as a rope, maillo-type link that comprise a threaded sleeve that tightens over a thread to complete the link or a series of carabiners.
Roller chain has been widely used in automotive equipments. A roller chain typically comprises a series of inner links that are engaged using a series of outer links. Engagement between an inner link and an outer link is achieved through a pin that is inserted into a pin housing that is formed collectively by aligning a bushing belonging to the inner link and pin holes of the mating outer link. This engagement continues to occur along the length of roller chain. Resizing a roller chain or replacement of an outer link or an inner link can be done by withdrawing the pin from an identified link, removing the link or adding a new links, and subsequently inserting the pin into an empty pin housing. A conventional method of removing the pin is to hammer the pin out of the identified link. Similarly, insertion of the pin was achieved by aligning the mating links and hammering the pin into the pin housing. A variety of chain tools have been devised for convenient removal and insertion of the pin.
Currently-used chain tools provide a fragile mechanism of locking a segment of the roller chain from where the pin is to be withdrawn. A user of the current chain tools is usually required to hold onto the target link or a part of the target link to ensure that the roller chain is not displaced while removing the pin. A driver screw or a guide is typically used to interact with the target pin to drive the pin out of the identified link. Dimensional restrictions of the pin can lead to miss-alignment between the screw end that drives the pin and the pin itself, thus making it difficult for a user to exclusively operate the chain tool. Moreover, it is a struggle for the current chain tools to align a completely removed pin back into a potential link, and to stop the pin from exiting the chain assembly when attempting an assembling operation. There stands a need of a chain-tool that can be equipped to deal with the above discussed issues and can be easily operated by minors and adults of all age groups. The present application discloses a chain tool of said nature.